These flavorful Lemon Blueberry Bars are made with fresh blueberries, lemon, and vanilla and finished with a thick layer of icing. They bake up moist and dense, similar to a blondie, packed with light and fresh flavors. An easy dessert that’s perfect for summer snacking.
We have a new member of the lemon-blueberry family. These bars join our Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake, Lemon Blueberry Bread, and Lemon Blueberry Muffins.
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These lemon blueberry bars are:
Easy: They come together in minutes. No electric mixer or fancy equipment.
Moist and dense: The texture of these bars falls somewhere between a cake and a blondie. More moist than a cake but a more spongy than a blondie. If you like these, you should also try my lemon blueberry spoon cake.
Packed with blueberries: One whole cup of blueberries adds pops of fresh flavor (and color!) all throughout the bars.
Loaded with lemon: Lemon zest and lemon juice add just the right amount of tang.
Topped with icing: A simple powdered sugar icing with a bit of lemon and vanilla.
Ingredients needed
- Unsalted butter – Melted butter helps to create a rich, soft, and chewy bar.
- Sugars – A combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar.
- Eggs – One large egg plus an extra egg yolk for richness.
- Lemons – You’ll use lemon juice and zest.
- Vanilla – The perfect complement to lemon and blueberries.
- Blueberries – Fresh blueberries are best, frozen are not recommended.
- Flour – Regular all purpose flour.
- Baking powder – For just a little bit of lift.
- Salt – To balance out the sweetness.
- Powdered sugar – For the icing.
- Milk – For the icing.
Recipe overview
Whisk melted butter and sugars. Add egg, egg yolk, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in blueberries (tossed with a little flour).
Pour into a lined and greased 8×8 baking pan and bake.
Once the bars have cooled, prepare the icing. Whisk powdered sugar, milk, melted butter, vanilla, and lemon zest. Pour over the bars and spread into an even layer. Place in the refrigerator for the icing to firm up.
Recipe tips
You’ll need two medium-sized lemons for this recipe. That should provide enough juice and zest for both the bars and the icing.
Use a fine grater (like a Microplane) or zester to remove the zest from the lemons. Only remove the yellow part of the skin, not the white pith.
This recipe should be made with fresh blueberries. Frozen blueberries will add too much moisture and make the bars soggy.
Prefer less icing? Half the icing portion of the recipe and drizzle it on the bars.
Not a fan of blueberries? Try our Raspberry Lemon Bars.
Serving and storage
Store in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 3 days. Serve chilled or at cool room temperature.
Recipe
Lemon Blueberry Bars
Ingredients
Bars:
- 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour, divided
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- finely grated zest of one medium-sized lemon
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Icing:
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk, plus more, if needed
- finely grated zest of half medium-sized lemon
- ⅛ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Bars:
- Preheat oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line an 8×8 baking pan with foil or parchment and lightly grease. Set aside.
- Combine 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, along with the baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk melted butter and both sugars for one full minute. Add lemon zest, juice, whole egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, whisking until well combined. Tap the whisk on the side of the bowl to remove all the excess batter, then remove the whisk from the bowl. Add the flour mixture and stir with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon until well combined.
- Toss the blueberies with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour. Add to the batter and gently stir until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
- Bake for 24-28 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and a toothpick insterted into the center comes out without raw batter on it. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Icing:
- Whisk all ingredients until smooth. You can easily adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken or more milk to thin. Pour the icing over the cooled bars and spread into an even layer. Place in the refrigerator to firm up, about an hour or so.
Notes
- You’ll need two medium-sized lemons for this recipe. That should provide enough juice and zest for both the bars and the icing.
- Use a fine grater (like a Microplane) or zester to remove the zest from the lemons. Only remove the yellow part of the skin, not the white pith.
- This recipe should be made with fresh blueberries. Frozen blueberries will add too much moisture and make the bars soggy.
- Prefer less icing? Half the icing portion of the recipe and drizzle it on the bars.
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Justine says
I swear there’s no better combo than lemon and blueberry. These bars were fantastic! Full of flavor, moist, absolutely delicious.
Marieb says
These look amazing, will definitely be making. Just wondering, do you know, if you can freeze them? Thx marie from canada
Allison says
You can freeze them but the texture will be affected. I assume they will be a bit wet after thawing.
Taryn says
Great flavor combination. I love the contrast of lemon and blueberry.
Joyce says
This a great small batch recipe for my husband and me. I did substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the AP flour and granulated monkfruit “sugar” for the white sugar because I am diabetic. It was a great success!
Allison says
Thanks for sharing your experience. 🙂
Sylvia says
I made these last week for my mom’s visit (from another city, staying for five days) and she, as well as myself and my husband, found them very delicious! I was a bit surprised at how dense/heavy they were, but that’s on me not the recipe. I think next time I will also use less icing (and probably skip having the lemon zest in the icing) but overall we really enjoyed it!
Denise K says
This recipe is a keeper! Delicious and very easy to make even on a hot day. (It is 90 outside). I got local blueberries that were a little tart so I decided to use them for these bars. I halved the icing recipe and did a drizzle across the top. Wonderful
Allison Mattina says
I’m glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. 🙂